Published May 23, 2016

Washington, DC—May 23, 2016—The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) 21st Annual International Meeting Workshop 2—Risk-Sharing Agreements for Manufacturers and Commercial Payers in the United States: How Can Theory Help Practice? Design and Aligning Incentives Are Key—was held this afternoon in Washington, DC, USA. Workshop discussion leaders included:

• Lou Garrison, PhD, ISPOR President-Elect and Professor, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
• Adrian Towse, MA, MPhil, Director, Office of Health Economics, London, UK
• Rajiv Mallick, PhD, Senior Director, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, BTG International Inc., West Conshohocken, PA, USA
• Pete Fullerton, PhD, RPh, Principal, Strategic Pharmacy Innovations, Seattle, WA, USA

While there is significant interest in risk-sharing agreements, previous research has documented the limited use of these agreements in the US for both medicines and devices. Other research has identified a number of practical barriers, including the costs of reaching an agreement and the lack of adequate data infrastructure. The discussion leaders described the practical challenges to successful risk-sharing agreements and explained how theory could help structure appropriate incentives that address areas of uncertainty. The leaders covered five different (but complementary) theoretical frameworks, including value-of-information theory, money-back guarantees, real option theory, portfolio theory, and Bayes theorem. Presentations and slide decks from the ISPOR 21st Annual International meeting can be found here. Interested parties can follow news and developments from the meeting on social media using the hashtag #ISPORDC.

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